Canadian Occupational Safety

22 Canadian Occupational Safety www.cos-mag.com lenses and, to some extent, doctor services can be provided to companies on a wholesale basis. The programs also allow companies to ensure their workers are getting the most effective eye protection, Furman says. If workers are sent out to get their own glasses, the safety manager has no idea whether the glasses they get are up to proper standards. "The program is a way to control all that. The eyewear is going to comply not only with CSA standards but also with specifi c company policy," Furman says. CSA standards on prescription safety eyewear are set out in CSA Z94.3-15, Eye and Face Protectors, which discusses design and performance requirements, and CSA Z94.3.1-16, Guideline for Selection, Use and Care of Eye and Face Protectors. Most provincial OHS legislation (except Saskatchewan) and federal OHS regulation refer to CSA Z94.3-15, she adds. Safety eyewear must be CSA-compliant, indicated by a marking on the eyewear frame. MANUFACTURERS' PROGRAMS Programs provided through manufacturers work in much the same way as Eyesafe. Bruce Gibson, health-care solutions manager at Oakville, Ont.- based Levitt-Safety, says the manufacturer meets with an employer in advance of an agreement to discuss the safety eyewear requirements and to select the frames that will be available to employ- ees. Some types of frames may be eliminated because of unsuitable materials. Employees take their prescription and company autho- rization form to the dispenser — in this case an optician — who fi ts them with a pre-selected frame. With some companies, employees pay for the prescription glasses in full at the time they pick them up and the company later reimburses them for some or all of the cost. Other companies have a program that works directly through the manufacturer. "We just send them one bill at the end of the month and they do their own internal program of cost adjusting or payroll deduction. Or they cover everything. It depends on the company and how they've set up that program up for their employees," says Gibson. The main people involved in the program are safety management and, because it's quite often run through an employee benefi ts package, the human resources department, Gibson says. While HR is responsible for administering the program, safety personnel handle the safety side — as the ones legally responsible for the well-being of their workers, they must make sure the PPE that each worker has been supplied meets safety require- ments based on the job. In addition to identifying the frame and lens fea- tures their workers need, the safety manager might also be involved on the fi nancial side. For example, she may reject a premium group of frames that is not really needed for their job to reduce company expenses, Gibson says. Along with guaranteeing all frames and lenses are CSA-compliant, the program also formalizes the procedure of buying prescription safety eyewear. It is easier to manage from both an administra- tive and safety management point of view because employees can go only to specifi ed dispensers (opti- cians) and all payments go through that limited number of clinics, Gibson says. There is also one, detailed statement per month. "With many informal programs that we replace, companies have just said to workers, 'Go get your prescription. Go get safety eyewear. Bring me back the invoice and we'll reimburse you.' So they get invoices coming from all over the place and they have reimbursement issues." Some program providers such as Longueuil, Que.-based Securo Vision, have introduced systems that allow companies to manage the program com- pletely online, so there is no paperwork to handle at all, says Sylvie Lapointe, administrative assistant. Other providers allow for the installation of a kiosk at the company. Employees can choose their pre- scription glasses and submit their prescriptions at any time at work. It's also important to note the frequency of and payment for eye exams are not affected by a pre- scription safety eyewear program. Rather, they are determined by the employer and based on the benefi ts the employee has through his health-care benefi ts package. Most companies cover the cost of the exam and will tell employees how often they can get new glasses — typically about every two years — and the employee will have an eye exam before getting them. Testing frequency may also be governed by pro- vincial regulation and by the particular industry, Gibson says. Companies employing drivers and forklift operators, for example, would probably test their vision more frequently than other workers and maintain an in-house vision-screening program. While they are much cheaper than prescription safety glasses, safety lenses that clip to the frames of a person's regular glasses should not be used in working conditions as a substitute for prescription safety glasses because they are not CSA-compli- ant, Lapointe says. Minimum dimension and size requirements for lenses and frames are set by the CSA to ensure glasses provide proper coverage. Regular glasses don't meet these standards, leav- ing gaps and holes that could allow fl ying particles and other hazards into the eyes. Moreover, she adds, safety frames must be equipped with permanent side shields, so clip-on side shields are not CSA-compliant. Wearing two lenses at once tends to produce a poorer fi t and be much less com- fortable for the wearer than safety glasses. Prescription safety glasses require no special consideration over and above regular safety glasses when it comes to care and maintenance, Lapointe says. However, because prescription eyewear tends to cost much more than regular safety glasses, it makes a lot of sense to ensure workers care for them properly. "Progressives, for example, may cost close to $1,000. When you pay that amount of money, it's in your interest to take care of them if you don't want to have to go and buy another pair in a year," says Lapointe. "There are ways to care for any prescription glasses if you want to get the most from your money." Lapointe says having a prescription safety eyewear program helps show employees their company wants to pro- vide them with proper eye protection and encourage them to wear the glasses. Many eye injuries occur daily at work, often causing a person to lose an eye. "And once you lose your sight, there's no going back," says Lapointe. "Having a program should be a must — the same way employers provide steel-toed boots or hard hats. It should always be part of your protective equipment." Linda Johnson is a freelance journalist based in Toronto. She can be reached at lindajohnson@sympatico.ca.

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